Loving will prevail

Loving is writing about your child with joy, compassion and pride, delighting in her development and achievements. It is investigating the claims made about all sorts of causes of autism and supposed therapies then using reason and logic to sort out fact from fiction. It is loving to write about abuses and the murder of autistics and to counter the claims made by some that these crimes are understandable, or even excusable. You are motivated by love when you do so much to promote a better understanding of autism as a human variation to be accepted.

Hating is acting in a way you know will hurt a family via their seven year old autistic daughter.

Left Brain/Right Brain was probably the biggest (and in my opinion, the best) autism blog on the net and it's author, Kevin Leitch, has become a friend too. I've been reading his blog for years and it has helped me immeasurably. Kevin and his wife have had to make the difficult decision to close the blog because of their valid fears for their daughter, who has been used as a target of abuse and shocking written attack by a hating individual. I am very upset at what has happened. I support their decision and wish them and their beautiful children the very best.

The Autism Hub may have to take another form, but the blogging will continue. Many of us, especially the parents of autistic children who have started blogging, have been directly influenced and motivated to do this by Left Brain/Right Brain. So even if that blog has sadly ended, and how I will miss it, the writing will continue.

Big-Altie Gags the Truth, or tries to

Isn't it funny how you almost always hear, in any discussions from proponents of various therapies for which no evidence of effectiveness exists, that the 'allopathic' practitioners, or big-pharma or the establishment, are suppressing the truth, trying to gag them, deluding the people. Well, here's evidence of exactly this sort of thing, only it isn't big-pharma doing the suppression, it's the Society of Homeopaths. They have threatened the writer of the Quackometer blog, with legal action, if he didn't remove a post critical of them. Actually, they didn't even approach the writer, but complained to his ISP with lawyers letters, though it's not known what exactly they object to in the post.

This isn't what I write about, there are many great bloggers tackling bad science stories, but this is just disgusting, and like many others, who intend to high-light the heavy handed antics of the SoH, I wanted to link to the story, and copy the post here. It's currently available on Google cache. There's more about the whole incident on David Colquhoun's blog. (I managed to name check Gordon's favourite lecturer in a post!)

Here's the post from The Quackometer;
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The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) are a shambles and a bad joke. It is now over a year since Sense about Science, Simon Singh and the BBC Newsnight programme exposed how it is common practice for high street homeopaths to tell customers that their magic pills can prevent malaria. The Society of Homeopaths have done diddly-squat to stamp out this dangerous practice apart from issue a few ambiguously weasel-worded press statements.

The SoH has a code of practice, but my feeling is that this is just a smokescreen and is widely flouted and that the Society do not care about this. If this is true, then the code of practice is nothing more than a thin veneer used to give authority and credibility to its deluded members. It does nothing more than fool the public into thinking they are dealing with a regulated professional.

As a quick test, I picked a random homeopath with a web site from the SoH register to see if they flouted a couple of important rules:

48 • Advertising shall not contain claims of superiority.

• No advertising may be used which expressly or implicitly claims to cure named diseases.

72 To avoid making claims (whether explicit or implied; orally or in writing) implying cure of any named disease.

The homeopath I picked on is called Julia Wilson and runs a practice from the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough. What I found rather shocked and angered me.

Straight away, we find that Julia M Wilson LCHE, RSHom specialises in asthma and works at a clinic that says,

Many illnesses and disease can be successfully treated using homeopathy, including arthritis, asthma, digestive disorders, emotional and behavioural difficulties, headaches, infertility, skin and sleep problems.

Well, there are a number of named diseases there to start off. She also gives a leaflet that advertises her asthma clinic. The advertising leaflet says,

Conventional medicine is at a loss when it comes to understanding the origin of allergies. … The best that medical research can do is try to keep the symptoms under control. Homeopathy is different, it seeks to address the triggers for asthma and eczema. It is a safe, drug free approach that helps alleviate the flaring of skin and tightening of lungs…

Now, despite the usual homeopathic contradiction of claiming to treat causes not symptoms and then in the next breath saying it can alleviate symptoms, the advert is clearly in breach of the above rule 47 on advertising as it implicitly claims superiority over real medicine and names a disease.

Asthma is estimated to be responsible for 1,500 deaths and 74,000 emergency hospital admissions in the UK each year. It is not a trivial illness that sugar pills ought to be anywhere near. The Cochrane Review says the following about the evidence for asthma and homeopathy,

The review of trials found that the type of homeopathy varied between the studies, that the study designs used in the trials were varied and that no strong evidence existed that usual forms of homeopathy for asthma are effective.

This is not a surprise given that homeopathy is just a ritualised placebo. Hopefully, most parents attending this clinic will have the good sense to go to a real accident and emergency unit in the event of a severe attack and consult their GP about real management of the illness. I would hope that Julia does little harm here.

However, a little more research on her site reveals much more serious concerns. She says on her site that ’she worked in Kenya teaching homeopathy at a college in Nairobi and supporting graduates to set up their own clinics’. Now, we have seen what homeopaths do in Kenya before. It is not treating a little stress and the odd headache. Free from strong UK legislation, these missionary homeopaths make the boldest claims about the deadliest diseases.

A bit of web research shows where Julia was working (picture above). The Abha Light Foundation is a registered NGO in Kenya. It takes mobile homeopathy clinics through the slums of Nairobi and surrounding villages. Its stated aim is to,

introduce Homeopathy and natural medicines as a method of managing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Kenya.

I must admit, I had to pause for breath after reading that. The clinic sells its own homeopathic remedies for ‘treating’ various lethal diseases. Its MalariaX potion,

is a homeopathic preparation for prevention of malaria and treatment of malaria. Suitable for children. For prevention. Only 1 pill each week before entering, during and after leaving malaria risk areas. For treatment. Take 1 pill every 1-3 hours during a malaria attack.

This is nothing short of being totally outrageous. It is a murderous delusion. David Colquhoun has been writing about this wicked scam recently and it is well worth following his blog on the issue.

Let’s remind ourselves what one of the most senior and respected homeopaths in the UK, Dr Peter Fisher of the London Homeopathic Hospital, has to say on this matter.

there is absolutely no reason to think that homeopathy works to prevent malaria and you won’t find that in any textbook or journal of homeopathy so people will get malaria, people may even die of malaria if they follow this advice.

Malaria is a huge killer in Kenya. It is the biggest killer of children under five. The problem is so huge that the reintroduction of DDT is considered as a proven way of reducing deaths. Magic sugar pills and water drops will do nothing. Many of the poorest in Kenya cannot afford real anti-malaria medicine, but offering them insane nonsense as a substitute will not help anyone.

Ironically, the WHO has issued a press release today on cheap ways of reducing child and adult mortality due to malaria. Their trials, conducted in Kenya, of using cheap mosquito nets soaked in insecticide have reduced child deaths by 44% over two years. It says that issuing these nets be the ‘immediate priority’ to governments with a malaria problem. No mention of homeopathy. These results were arrived at by careful trials and observation. Science. We now know that nets work. A lifesaving net costs $5. A bottle of useless homeopathic crap costs $4.50. Both are large amounts for a poor Kenyan, but is their life really worth the 50c saving?

I am sure we are going to hear the usual homeopath bleat that this is just a campaign by Big Pharma to discredit unpatentable homeopathic remedies. Are we to add to the conspiracy Big Net manufacturers too?

It amazes me that to add to all the list of ills and injustices that our rich nations impose on the poor of the world, we have to add the widespread export of our bourgeois and lethal healing fantasies. To make a strong point: if we can introduce laws that allow the arrest of sex tourists on their return to the UK, can we not charge people who travel to Africa to indulge their dangerous healing delusions?

At the very least, we could expect the Society of Homeopaths to try to stamp out this wicked practice? Could we?

the quackometer blog: The Gentle Art of Homeopathic Killing

Who, what, where, when, why and WOW!

We all headed off to one of our favourite places yesterday, W5, named for the 1st 5 'W' words in the post title. As Thomas announced, 'all the things here were invented by scientists.' We met with a few other HE families and had a fantastic day out. There's so much to investigate and the children all love it.

They have an area where you can record a weather report in front of a blue screen. You choose your background; either a TV studio or on-location footage of a hurricane or a volcano. There's a TV camera at the front and an auto-cue of the script. Lady enjoyed hamming it up, reading the script and pretending to be blown all over the place during a hurricane. Duncan joined her, watching himself on the monitor and jumping around the place for the camera. They then watched the recording on the big screen.

Duncan enjoyed a few repeat performances then went on to something else. But later in the afternoon, while the other children were watching one of the demonstrations, Duncan took me back the the camera, and spent 45 minutes filming himself and watching the footage. He pulled a stool over to stand on, then he'd wait until after the count down to announce recording, then he'd say, 'Look at this!' then '3, 2, 1, WOW!' as he jumped off the stool into the air. He also did a fair bit of dancing, chattered about stuff I couldn't make out, apart from 'Tots TV' and sang a bit of the 'Duncan song'. At one stage, he stood on the stool and pulled his trousers down a wee bit at the front, getting ready to wave his little bits about (to avoid using language that attracts creepy Google hits). This area of his anatomy has always held great fascination, but he's lately begun to talk about it so much more! Needless to say, I didn't want that on camera! I told him, in a matter of fact way, to keep his trousers up. Though the child is so skinny, that even with a belt on, his trousers are often lying a bit low!

Duncan and I also spent ages on the huge model of a cargo ship and crane. The crane was fitted with an electro-magnet and could be moved in 3 dimensions, to lift metal 'crates' onto the ship. He quickly figured out how to control it.

Another favourite were the story cubes. These have a selection of pictures of a cartoon man or woman doing things like laughing, looking grumpy, talking on the phone, opening a door or blowing kisses. There are a few cubes showing various objects too. Duncan arranged the cubes, choosing which face to display and in which order, in a slot. Then he pressed the start button and the cubes were 'read' to produce a little animation on the screen. He made loads of little films. He particularly liked making the characters talk on the phone and then slip on a banana skin, before looking grumpy, then he'd have the man give the woman a present. That too took a lot of concentration.

While I was minding Duncan, Thomas and Lady hung out with my friend D. and her boys. They watched the displays and Lady helped out with 2 demonstrations. She told me she 'was Jupiter', and later, she had to wear safety goggles ('like Gabriella in High School Musical') for an experiment involving vinegar and sodium bicarbonate.

The day ended with everyone in the Start area, which is aimed at younger children. Duncan played with the wooden trains, and I had a (plastic) meal prepared for me by my friend's 2 year old.

We have been going to W5 for a few years now. I remember the first time we went. I took the 3 children and met up with the other home-educating families, whom I didn't know so well then obviously. I don't know exactly what happened, except that I was very stressed and harried, Duncan was running all over and having a very hard time, and I dragged all the children back to the car after after a short time, where I sat in tears of frustration for a while. How different yesterday was! I still need to stay right by Duncan, and I'm lucky that Lady and Thomas are so well behaved that they will stay with D. and not cause her much extra effort. But I have never seen Duncan slow down and concentrate for such long periods on all the exhibits. It was wonderful, even if I was knackered by the time we got home.

Thought for the day

On Saturday morning, I was lying in bed half listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio when someone called Catherine Pepinster came on to give her Thought for the day. This is a short daily slot in the middle of a popular news and current affairs show, which is described by the BBC as, 'reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news.' I have listened to it hundreds of times, usually unwittingly. It is often bland, preachy, irrelevant and occasionally, yep, thought provoking.

On Saturday the subject was; Can reciprocal altruism really explain the most extraordinary sacrifices that some people make?

It included the following lines, available here in the transcript;

Yet can reciprocal altruism really explain the most extraordinary sacrifices that some people make? Can genes really explain the price paid by Fr Maximilian Kolbe who volunteered to die in the place of a stranger at Auschwitz.
I suspect he was more driven by Christ's admonition that we love our enemies, do good, and expect nothing in return. From time to time one comes across an example of altruism, of sheer goodness that no biologist could ever explain.

Let me give you an example. A friend of mine took a year out of his own life to accompany a man suffering from a terrible degenerative disease on a tour of America. For 12 long months Joe drove Billy across the United States in a car specially adapted for his wheelchair, caring for him, helping to wash and feed him. He had no reason to do it other than a sense of fellowship. Joe won't be embarrassed by me mentioning this; he died suddenly this week, 10 months after Bruce's own death. Joe's story illuminates that being truly human takes far more than being a biological construct. Words don't always stretch far enough to explain it. A Christian might say it reveals the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But all of us would agree that it is love.

I woke up slightly more as I heard these words, and my response was a bit sweary. This woman, had just compared a man sacrificing his life for a stranger in a Nazi death camp, to her friend's decision to travel around the US for a year while working as staff to a disabled person?! Am I missing something?

Look at the language used, her friend 'took a year out of his own life to accompany a man suffering from a terrible degenerative disease'.

How did he take this year from his own life? Was he in a coma? No, he was working, possibly for low pay, or perhaps even just for expenses, and getting the chance to travel around America, presumably seeing the sights and staying in nice places. All this, for '12 long months'. Were they travelling extremely fast in that 'car specially adapted for his wheelchair', and perhaps experiencing some time dilation?

'He had no reason to do it other than a sense of fellowship.'
Was he forced to take the job? Did he not enjoy it? Was there really no other reason than a 'sense of fellowship'? Perhaps Joe too wanted to travel around the US and this provided a good opportunity. Perhaps Joe and Billy got on really well and had an absolute blast on their road trip, no matter that one of them required services from the other. I hope so.

It's terribly sad that both these young men died so soon after each other, one's death being presumably sudden and unexpected. But it's sad that the people left behind are interpreting that time as a terrible waste of a year in his life. What should he have been doing instead?

Loads of us are caring for a disabled person. That's not a 'most extraordinary sacrifice', it's just life. And especially when a person's job is to care for another, that's just work. It's good and worthwhile work, not well enough paid, and from what I hear, there are some excellent staff out there supporting and enabling their clients.

Bad Science Blogs

A load of ever so clever folk have joined a new blog aggregate, Bad Science Blogs. I was having a little look through and came across a post on The Quackometer which made me laugh. Isn't this just brilliant!



There are loads more here.

Cuckoo!

I bought a cuckoo clock yesterday. Duncan has had a thing about them for a while, ever since he saw my aunt's clock during a visit to her house. I have drawn loads of clocks, and he has Googled and YouTubed. His current favourite YouTube film is about a quilt-shop cuckoo clock. It's so funny watching him watching this film. It's not what most 7 year old boys would enjoy! When we headed out in the car last week, he directed me to take him to the Black Forest! Sadly, it's not quite in the neighbourhood.

He drew a lovely cuckoo clock picture on cardboard and I helped him to cut it out and make a 3D model clock, with doors and a bird inside. In his Wednesday art class, they were making things from Fimo and Duncan opted to make a little bird for his cardboard cuckoo clock. Thomas made a green snail and a badge for Gordon.

Anyway, I saw that they had cheap-ish clocks for sale at Argos, so yesterday I thought I'd get one. The children all came to the shop with me. Duncan was oh so excited. He was bouncing up and down and laughing and saying, 'Duncan get a cuckoo clock!'

We took our new precious time-piece back to the car where I had to open the box immediately so we could all get a look. Duncan was just bursting with happiness. He cradled the clock on his lap as I drove to the next part of our day's activities, the swimming pool.

Now Lady and Thomas have been wanting to go swimming for ages and I kept letting them down. So we finally decided to go during the day instead of in the evening. It should be obvious right, we're home-educating and all! But I'd been a bit concerned about looking after the 2 boys alone in the pool. The last few times we'd been, Thomas was really nervous and either clung to me or stayed really close, and was shivering soon after getting in, perhaps because he wasn't moving about enough to keep warm. Also, whenever I'd said to Duncan about going he became distressed and cried, 'no go to swimming pool!' Eventually I realised what was troubling him, and I said, 'Duncan go to the swimming pool, not go in the shower, just in the pool.' Then he agreed to go.

So we left the clock, with the bird carefully set out of the doors, and went to the leisure centre. It was fabulous. There were few other people there. I'd called up in advance and discovered that if we arrived between 12 and 1.15, there wouldn't be any school groups there. So we got ready in a family changing room and entered the water. I was astonished at Thomas. He put on his goggles, and he was off! He was jumping in and diving under and swimming a metre or 2 and had no fear at all! I don't know what had happened! Duncan loved it too. he mostly stayed in the shallow area by the steps and just splashed about and jumped and laughed. Lady did her usual crazy mermaid thing; she just loves the water. We will definitely make this a weekly thing.

Afterwards we had chip-shop chips, the best kind, and went to visit some friends whom we hadn't seen for a while. While we were there, Thomas and Lady had loads of fun playing a a game called 'doggy tag' which involved running from a swing to a trampoline while trying to avoid the 'lick power' (Lady's term) of their 2 dogs. I had a lovely game with a bundle-of-gorgeousness 2 year old, in which he kept booing me. Also provided was the tea and chat I had required when I posted yesterday.

Today Thomas and Lady went to Jujitsu. Thomas was so pleased to get his gee and looks ever so handsome. I'll have to post a picture as soon as I get round to buying a new charger for our digital camera :-(

Lady said Thomas was really going for it at their class today, and a big boy who has a brown belt was supporting him at the wrestling bit they do at the end. Thomas told me that his Sensei's mum turned up and expresed surprise that he had a mum. The he thought for a bit and said, 'actually, everyone on the whole planet has a mummy.' After a bit more thought he declared, 'except Luke in the Sarah Jane Adventures.' He's right, Luke was created from an amalgamation of the DNA from scans of the human guests to the Bane-run 'Bubbleshock' factory. So there.

The Grumps

The home-educating family who live round the corner visited yesterday for a few hours. The little 4 year old girl was frightened by Duncan. He got grumpy a few times for various reasons; he was frustrated that he couldn't tie a rope round his big toy car, or he was upset when Thomas got cross with him over a different toy. In his grump, he pushed at me, and hit out at me in front of the visiting children. He also was shouting. Then he pushed the other mum a bit. She wasn't hurt or annoyed. I told him not to push, it hurts. But the little girl was upset and said she didn't like this place. Duncan's outburst was over fast, as it always is. I tried to explain to the girl, but it's hard to know what to say to a child you don't know well. I told her that Duncan can't talk as well as other children, that some things are difficult for him, he's trying hard to learn how to behave properly and I have to keep helping him. I told her that he's not a bad boy even though he does the wrong things sometimes. I don't want her to be frightened. And I know Duncan is trying his best all the time and just hasn't developed the skills to deal with his frustrations in a more appropriate manner. In fact when they arrived, Duncan was happy and went to hug them all and rubbed them all on the head in a show of affection. Her mum was right beside her and no doubt would have taken her home if that's what she really wanted. I think I'll have to talk with the mum about this.

But it just feels like we're all too wound up in this family these past few days. Lady and Thomas have spent loads of time playing together as they always do, but they've been fighting too, getting angry and loud. Duncan just seems to the barometer or the house. If anyone is upset or cross, it affects him and makes him far more likely to have an outburst. He's been more physically rough over the past few days, and it's all because of the atmosphere. If one of the others gets cross with him, he's likely to come straight to me and angrily squeeze my arm or punch at me. It's like he stores the worst of his anger to let off with/at me. Perhaps he feels more secure with me than the others. It's hard to know.

What I do know, is we all have to try to reduce the grumps we're all having, lower the volume a bit, chill out and enjoy each other.

It may sound from this that the past few days have been all bad. Really, we have had loads of fun, it's just that the fuses seem shorter. We're going to visit some other friends now. We've know them for a while and they are well used to all of us and our little ways. I reckon tea and chat is what I need right now.

Model Railway

Thomas and Lady headed off to their jujitsu class on Saturday with my dad. Duncan and I picked them up when it ended. Duncan was attired in his over-sized 'Duplo train' T-shirt, Gordon's sunglasses, a top hat and carrying an umbrella. He looked very dapper. He'd not wanted to wear any trousers under the T-shirt, but I'd managed to persuade him that he'd feel too cold without them.

On arrival at the leisure centre, I saw a sign advertising an American model railway exhibition. Well, we had to check that out. We piled into the hall, and it was like a dream come true to a train fan like Duncan. There were maybe 10 different model railways, all very elaborate and detailed. Loads of engines, track and carriages were on sale also. These were mostly the Hornby type; proper model stock, and costly too. Duncan managed to find a small Ziploc bag of Thomas the Tank stuff, little mini trains each only a couple of cm long. I bought them, but not the Percy engine he found later, which cost £30! He had a bit of a tantrum at that, but it didn't last and we got back to watching the trains soon enough.

We all enjoyed the trains and Duncan was very good about keeping his hands off, more so than the last time we'd seen a model railway display. I did keep reminding him to just look, use his eyes, keep hands off. About 3 times, a little hand darted out to gently touch an engine or a minuscule sheep, but he knew he wasn't supposed to really. Lady and Thomas enjoyed the displays too. They stuck together while I stayed close to Duncan.

Duncan got lots of compliments on his hat. He did stand out! It seemed to be older men who were running the railways, and there were little groups proudly presenting their latest acquisitions. Then there was this oddly dressed little boy, his face shining with delight, following a particular engine round the track, his face level with the engine, his eyes squinting a bit (to see more detail, I think) and squirming past them to stay with his favoured engine. I apologised a few times when he bumped someone a bit, but they weren't bothered. They said it was nice to see children enjoying it all. One fellow was so kind. He let Duncan come in behind and sit on his high stool and press a few buttons, flip the switches and turn the dials. Oh how Duncan loved that!

We went to an adjoining room for a drink and snack, and Duncan brought out his bag of engines and started playing with them on the floor. A boy came up and started talking to him about them. Duncan ignored him so the boy spoke to me instead. He told me how he loves Thomas trains even though he is 10. He also told me about all his other trains in great detail, and about his sister and many other things beside, and asked me lots of questions. He was such a sweetheart. As we went out, I said goodbye and told him I'd enjoyed our conversation. His mum and I smiled at each other. We knew our boys had something in common.

Donna Williams comments

Donna Williams commented on a recent post, not the post I wrote about her lecture, but the one in which I discussed the NI based P2P autism organisation. I have too much to say back to put it in the comments, so I've written a new post. Donna Williams (DW) said;

Just for the record, my own position is moderate. I have seen neurologists, immunologists, pharmacologists, pathologists in the treatment of my gut, immune and metabolic disorders which showed signs since I was 6 mths old (was dx'd as a psychotic infant at 2 years old in 1965, tested for deafness into late childhood and formally dx'd as autistic in the 90s). I am VERY AWARE that the PUB MED info is that 20% of children diagnosed with autism have primary immune deficieincy - ie see the Gupta studies (hence 80% do not) and that 20 year studies - Rosemary Waring - have found 60% are salicylate intolerant (therefore 40% not) and 80% can't digest casein and gluten - Paul Shattock (so 20% can).

I do not agree that the authors have shown irrefutably, that for all autistic children, 20% have primary immune deficiency, 60% are salicylate intolerant and a massive 80% can't digest casein and gluten. Nor have all these findings been verified and reproduced by other studies. And what hypotheses have they presented to account for these manifestations in the physiology of autistic children? I have read the 'undigested peptides, leaky gut and opiates in the brain' hypothesis, but have never read of any evidence to prove this. Here are a few references wrt autism and GF/CF diets that I just found. They do not show clear evidence of benefits, excepting one which claims that the diet reduced 'autistic traits', whatever that means: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(2):CD003498

The one trial included reported results on four outcomes. Unsurprisingly in such a small-scale study, the results for three of these outcomes (cognitive skills, linguistic ability and motor ability) had wide confidence intervals that spanned the line of nil effect. However, the fourth outcome, reduction in autistic traits, reported a significant beneficial treatment effect for the combined gluten- and casein- free diet.

Pediatr Nurs. 2007 Mar-Apr;33(2):138-43

To date, there is little empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of dietary restrictions in treating child psychiatric disorders, in particular, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):413-20

This study tested the efficacy of a gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) diet in treating autism using a randomized, double blind repeated measures crossover design. The sample included 15 children aged 2-16 years with autism spectrum disorder. Group data indicated no statistically significant findings.

J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2006 Apr;27(2 Suppl):S162-71.

The purpose of this review is to examine the available trials of gluten/casein diets in children with ASDs regarding the strength of their findings and also concerning points that may be useful in the design of future studies.Seven trials of these diets in ASD are critically reviewed; 6 of these were uncontrolled trials and 1 used a single-blind design. All reported efficacy in reducing some autism symptoms, and 2 groups of investigators also reported improvement in nonverbal cognition. Design flaws in all of the studies weaken the confidence that can be placed in their findings.

I don't doubt that some autistic people are intolerant to wheat and/or milk products. This is common among many people, autistic or not. Clearly, people will feel better on a diet excluding foods that make them ill. It's a good idea to get a dietitian's advice before trying diets such as these, especially with young children who can't verbalise how they're feeling. And notice, I said dietitian, not naturopath. 

 DW continued:

I happen to be someone whose language processing was helped significantly by biomed interventions at age 9 (zinc, C, multivitamin-minerals) and jumped from 10% to 50% - enough to eventually develop functional speech (previously fitting Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder) then up to 70% with the use of Glutamine in my 30s. I'm also very aware of the use of omega 3s in ADHD and Childhood bipolar (also in Pub Med) which are co-morbid conditions which can complicate SOME children's autism.

I'm happy that you feel better on the supplements you mention. However, this doesn't mean that they are necessary for or will benefit others. The evidence of Omega 3's efficacy isn't as clear cut as the mainstream media would have us believe. Would you consider making it more explicit in your lecture, that you are not a scientist, and that just because these measures worked for you, it doesn't mean they will for others, and that a doctor's advice should be taken?

DW:

I do not support extremist chelation programs but as the SENSIBLE use of minerals in the management of gut, immune and metabolic disorders is low key chelation, I am on that and have been for decades.

I'm happy to hear this, and I have never written anywhere that you do support chelation. 

DW:

I have talked for groups on both sides of the culture-cure divide and will speak for any group I agree or disagree with if my information will help their audiences. As an autism consultant with over 12 years experience I'm VERY aware that biomed is NOT the answer for all people on the spectrum and that done in the extreme, long term and with no qualified medical supervision can be dangerous. As a consultant the approaches and strategies I suggest are environmental and biomed is only suggested if the family feel there are clear indicators that physiological disorders may be present and potentially contributing to neurological issues as PART of their child's autism. I hope this clarifies that in a black and white world, I live firmly in the grey.

I very much enjoyed your talk. I do think that your preaching of the biomed gospel, as a highly respected, much published and renowned autistic woman, may be used as evidence of your support for their views of autism as something to be defeated, something where the problems lie mostly within the autistic child and that changing them is the most important aspect to ensuring they make the most of life. I think that your message of respect, understanding, accommodation and acceptance is diminished by this. I would have loved to have heard you mention during your lecture that you are 'VERY aware that biomed is NOT the answer for all people on the spectrum and that done in the extreme, long term and with no qualified medical supervision can be dangerous.' I don't think that it is black and white for most people. Many of us use some type of biomedical approach. My own son used to take an iron supplement, as blood tests demonstrated he needed it. That sometimes left him a bit constipated, so I'd give him a few spoonfuls of laxative now and then. He's also taken a multi-vitamin regularly, as his diet isn't as varied as I'd like and I can't be sure he's getting all the nutrients he needs. So, we fall into the light grey region according to your analogy. 

DW:

As for GPs, many are great and have certainly helped me, but mostly they've helped with referrals to specialists. I do hear, however, of some GPs who don't help parents get referrals and fob off health issues as 'part of the autism' whilst being closed minded as to whether treatment of these things may reduce one's degree of autism. My personal experience is that GPs have been good about referring me to specialists when there are physiological issues they haven't been able to manage. Perhaps I'm lucky.

I'm pleased that you have had good experiences with your doctors. I have too. Many of the biomedical approach advocates, often talk about how their doctor doesn't know, care or understand anything about autism, and they have to go to the DAN! practitioners before they're taken seriously. I don't see this myself. Like you said, there are some doctors who are rude or ill informed, and who, as you say, try to blame medical issues a child may have, on their autism. I think that those clamouring about the huge percentages of people who have medical issues because they're autistic, may have contributed to this view among some doctors. The DAN! folk like to imply that there's this vast conspiracy and the mainstream docs are keeping the 'truth' away from the parents.

Happy Days

Wednesdays are busy days. Thomas has a gymnastics class at 3.15, Lady has gymnastics at 4.15, the boys have an art class at 4.30 and Lady has Brownies at 6.30. Thomas has also just started Jujitsu on Saturdays with Lady. He really loved his fist class. He always gets stuck in at these things and really tries so hard.

At home, the children have been playing and learning. I had a look through Lady's Brownie badge book to see what badges she might go for. It seems like she already knows enough to get most of them, or already can do the activities for the practical ones. It was quite reassuring to see, that she has picked up so much knowledge and skills.

Thomas was recently reading a story with me on the Starfall site. Duncan came and sat behind me watching and listening. Each time we went to a new page, Duncan would read it, really quietly to himself. Thomas took a lot longer to decipher the words. Duncan seemed to find it easier to read, when I wasn't focusing on him. So I just kept on with the activities, and he kept getting everything right. He actually knew a lot more than I thought. He has been playing at these sorts of sites by himself, especially the Starfall site. I can often hear him repeating the words after the narrator. Yesterday, I overheard him practising how to say 'Jacques Offenbach'. It's really good for self-directed learning; the type he's best at.

Thomas has been asking lots of questions about numbers recently. He keeps doing sums in his head. He'll come up to me and say, 'I know what 7 plus 7 is; 14.' I taught him how to do more sums, by 'putting the number in his head' and then counting on using his fingers. He picked it up right away. I can really see how just learning these things as they come up naturally works. I didn't have to sit down with a workbook and tell him, 'today you're going to learn to add'. Lady spent ages on these things at school, and we still had to re-do them when she started to learn at home.

Another thing we've all played at recently, is making little films with our photos and music. I was inspired to make one about Duncan when I was sent a link to a beautiful song on a comment here. Duncan loved the film about him and decided to make one of his own. It was a very serious undertaking. He decided what photos to use, the order the should go in, what to write on the titles and what effects to use. He's very happy with the finished product. Of course, Lady and Thomas wanted to make films about themselves too, so they each helped me make a couple more funny films.

We've also had many pleasant, dry days and been able to play in the garden or the park. The children were feeling so sorry fr their schooled friends as they collected conkers and went on the swings and roundabouts on a sunny autumn morning.

A couple of days ago, a woman who has just started out with home-education, contacted our local support group. I mailed her back and after a few messages, we discovered that she lives just round the corner from me! So yesterday she visited us with her 2 young daughters and baby son and we all had such a nice time. Home-educating neighbours, how lovely!

Art Class

Duncan's big thing at the minute, is Legoland, especially the Sky Rider, Duplo train and Orient Expedition rides. A friend sent him a stack of the visitor maps from England, and he's spent ages examining them. We have also had several of his wooden trains adapted to resemble the Legoland rides, we've drawn pictures and made books, googled and looked on YouTube.

Last week I mentioned a new art class I was taking the boys to. They've been twice now. During the first week they painted T-shirts. Duncan wanted a Duplo train on his. I drew the outline and he filled it in. Thomas made a pattern on his shirt and both boys opted for large shirts they could wear to bed. They looked really good and Duncan has worn his a few times. The second class took place last Wednesday. Duncan had decided that this time he would paint a Sky Rider train on a T-shirt. But this time, the planned activity was to cover a page with oil pastels, paint over them and then scrape off the paint to reveal the colours under. Duncan kept asking about the T-shirts and was upset that there weren't any. I tried to explain what we were doing, and did a quick demonstration. He still wasn't interested. In the end, he dabbed a few spots of paint onto a couple of wooden trains he'd taken with him. I persuaded him to colour and paint and scrape a small page. I don't know if I should bother taking them there any more. Is it beneficial to try to engage him in a task he didn't choose? Should I just let him do the drawings and paintings he want to do at home? The class might give him a chance to try new media, and perhaps learn to take external instruction. I would like to see him join other classes and groups eventually, like his siblings.

I think we'll keep going for now. The teacher tends to take a long time, talking at the start about what they're going to do. Duncan needs to get stuck in as fast as possible to engage his interest. I will help him as much as I can, making it more fun and understandable for him.

P2P Autism in Northern Ireland

The Donna Williams Belfast lecture was sponsored by a new Northern Ireland autism group; 'P2P Autism Support Group'. Their logo consists of 3 puzzle pieces, encircled by the words, 'Parent 2 parent working together to support educate advocate'. Their leaflet was handed out to everyone who registered for the lecture. It's second paragraph started with, 'Estimated rates of autism in the UK now stand at 1 in 58.'

Uh oh. That sounded familiar. After the lecture, I asked some people who were part of the P2P group, where this figure came from, and was told it came from a report by the Children's Commissioner dated March 2007. I mentioned that it was also quoted in the recent (appalling) Observer article. But no, I was assured that the report pre-dated that article and was available on-line if I wanted to check.

(I did check the Children's Commissioner site later, but could not find this report. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be grateful. I did e-mail P2P (p2pautism at yahoo dot com) asking for clarification of the figure, but have not yet had a response.)

The information on the leaflet continued, with several good points;

Those of you here today working in the education and health systems will know that you are under immense pressure at meeting the needs of most of our children, many of whom are undiagnosed and are not receiving the help they deserve. Those of you who are adults or who know of adults who have an Autistic Spectrum Condition will be painfully aware of the need for change in terms of employment and independent living opportunities.

By then I was thinking, maybe the 1 in 58 slip was an aberration, that this group really did have the best interest of all autistic people in mind, and perhaps I could get involved.

The next bit talked of 'the current self-fulfilling prophesies that abound regarding Autism' and how the "professionals" present autism in a way that 'is often negative and sometimes soul destroying.' Then it stated that autism isn't a disease and there is no "cure", but that the new paradigm is that it is "treatable". Children worldwide are being successfully 'treated for their individual "Autism's".' (There were many words in quotation marks in this short document, and 'autism' was always capitalised.)

What followed, clarified that this is not a group I'll be joining.

Approaches such as biomedical interventions address the gastrointestinal problems our children commonly suffer from, as well as their detoxification, allergy and immunity issues, all contributing to so-called "behaviours". In the rest of the UK many parents together with their informed doctors are treating Autism as a medical issue, because their children have real medical problems, problems often ignored.

How often must it be said, if your child has medical issues, SEE A PROPER HEALTH PROFFESSIONAL! Get it sorted, and that applies whether the child is autistic or not.

Finally, the document told of thousands of books and organisations on the internet, even doctors and teachers, who think of autism as treatable. But 'this shift has not reached these shores.' (Thankfully, thought I.) Professionals were then encouraged to listen to parents, to keep abreast of currents autism research and to buy books about it.

Also available at the lecture, were copies of a UK based magazine called 'The Autism File'. I was once given a stack of these, when Duncan was almost 3, and I was briefly seduced by all the miraculous 'recovery' stories contained therein. Gordon was unconvinced, and after a bit more investigation, it was clear that none of the 'treatments' mentioned had any scientific validity. I dumped the magazines in the recycling bin.

However this time, I took a copy home to read about the latest trends in the UK autism biomed world. Interestingly, it contained an article by the chair of the NI 'P2P Autism Support Group', Karen Buchanan.

She began by bemoaning the poor standard of services for 'children with ASD's' in NI, which she reckons is a legacy of the terrorist violence and political unrest we suffered under for 30 or so years. Here, I am in agreement.

She wrote;

Children with ASD's continue to be ignored, and segregated en masse into "special" facilities using cheap, mediocre, and in my view, damaging teaching methods.

I don't know what teaching method she holds to be 'damaging', but I would agree that the education system is not supporting autistic children properly, that parents have to fight bureaucracy to get a Statement of Educational Need and to have the proper provision supplied. There is not adequate funding, training or understanding.

Later she wrote;

On the medical side of things, paediatricians love to dazzle vulnerable and uniformed parents with Wing's now passé and wholly inadequate "triad of impairment" explanation of autism and its concomitant "deficits". This is meted out with the most depressing and singular fatalism, that autism is a debilitating and lifelong "disability"; that parents should just make the best of what they've been "given" and simply get on with it.

I don't doubt that there are some doctors who act as she describes. Such relics must be brought up to date. The diagnostic process needs a total overhaul, in terms of speed, who provides the diagnosis, how it is presented and what advice is given. Personally, I have met with several paediatricians, a speech and an occupational therapist, a clinical and an educational therapist since I moved here. They were all knowledgeable, helpful, respectful to my views and decisions and willing to learn from me (wrt home-education in particular).

There also seems to be a cultural difference in Northern Ireland of not wanting to bring attention to ones self and/or complain. Over and over again, I have witnessed parents of autistic children reluctant to tackle the education boards or their children's doctor for fear of "causing a fuss". I am originally Canadian and though I have lived in Belfast for 15 years, I find this hard to fathom, coming from a country that celebrates the "individual". I do not share other parents "unhealthy" respect for doctors either, doctors who are generally ignorant of autism, and worse, are afraid of their own ignorance.

Well, it's an interesting anthropological study of the local population. I'd actually concur with several points raised. Parents do need to stand up for their children, and not accept sub-standard education or health care. However doctors know a heck of a lot more than others about medicine, and if I'm not happy with what I've been advised, I'll take a second doctor's opinion over the knowledge of Google.

I personally didn't accept anything I was told at face value when my boy was diagnosed two years ago. I knew he was ill and he needed help fast. He has been on a biomedical intervention protocol (DAN) since the day after diagnosis. He was in an ABA (Lovass) program for 12 months. He has had AIT training, Verbal Behaviour, sensory integration vision therapy, the HANDLE method and now we are pursuing Sonrise.
...
After advising my son's paediatrician that we would be pursuing the biomedical route and after asking for certain blood tests to be done, the doctor implied "child abuse". This doctor did not have any comment about my son's raw excema or the fact that he was constipated for weeks at a time or that he was constantly developing strange viruses.

This doesn't make sense to me. It sounds like her son had genuine medical problems as well as autism. How would the doctor 'not have any comment' about eczema and constipation? Did she ask him? Doctors see these problems with children every day. Is she saying that the doctor somehow ignored her request for treatment of these things, or implied that they were somehow linked to his autism? If he did, it sounds like she should have complained, and we know she's not afraid to do so.

Anyway, her son underwent a gamut of interventions, non of those mentioned specifically have any proven benefit. I'm always interested in people who drop ABA for Sonrise, since they seem to be virtually opposite approaches. (Sonrise, for those who don't know, is a USA based cult, where you go on a hugely expensive training course, and learn how to 'love' the autism right out of that child.) Anyway, the article continued;

I thank God for the internet. Like so many other parents the internet has provided me with a wealth of support and information, that was impossible to access in real life. I now know parents from all over the world. It says a lot that parents must learn from their computers in lieu of their doctor's knowledge.

I think the internet is marvellous too, and I also communicate with people worldwide. It's also really cool to be able to use resources like Pubmed when evaluating some of the absolute crap you read.

Well, it goes on to talk about how P2P autism is new and fantastic and is going to shake the place up, and ends with;

As a "biomed" mom, who only cares about what is good for my child ad for other children like him, I personally will not rest until terms like "methylation cycles", "leaky gut syndrome" and "yeasty poops" become part of the vocabulary of every "autistic" household in Northern Ireland. I also will not rest until parents like me are provided real choices about how to educate our children, and are given the means to pursue those choices. Watch out Northern Ireland, the Troubles are over, but more trouble is on the way via parents who are getting organised.

Wow! Get ready, cause here they come!

It's the DAN missionary, out to convert the natives to the true path of righteousness and clean guts. I can understand that some reckon this stuff has helped their own child, but why do they need to proselytise?

I'll just advocate for my son, in my own way thanks.

Donna Williams in Belfast

On Tuesday I attended a lecture by Donna Williams. I was interested to hear what she had to say, and to see who would be attending and what other issues would arise from the event. There was to be plenty to think about.

Ms Williams is a talented, energetic and engaging speaker. The lecture title was 'Autism as a Fruit Salad' and was outlined on the poster;

What if Autism Spectrum Conditions are the combined developmental effect of combinations of things and not single conditions? What if they are ‘cluster conditions’? What if an Autism Spectrum condition is not like a piece of fruit but more like a fruit salad? The combinations in those fruit salads might differ from person to person and, so, the best collection of approaches, treatments and adaptations would differ too. One-size-fits-all-approaches that assume they address a single condition would be limited. But, if we could identify the ingredients in each person’s ‘fruit salad’, then we might have the basics for an individualised program based on the systems at work for that particular person.

All people with an Autism Spectrum Condition have an ‘information processing difference’ to Non-Autistic people. Commonly though, they may also have anxiety, mood or compulsive disorders and combinations of more 'Autistic’ personality traits, each with their own set of natural motivations and distresses, which may run counter to non-Autistic ‘normality’ and which many non-Autistic people may find as 'odd', 'strange', 'abnormal' or alien as the non-Autistic person's world may look to the person on the Autistic Spectrum!

This lecture will lay out the ingredients commonly found in those ‘fruit salads’ and the very different treatments, approaches and adaptations found useful in reducing the disability issues associated with each so that the abilities can more easily shine through.

As I sat listening and watching Donna talking and gesturing, I wrote down a few points that struck me. I kept nodding, thinking, 'Yes! That's it exactly!' as she spoke about the effect of environment on autistic people and the difference versus deficit model. As the lecture progressed however, I was noting more things that I didn't agree with. First she spoke about cranial sacral therapy, saying it benefited her, which I don't doubt. She suggested it could benefit other autistic people too, and again, maybe it could. But as a technique, there's no evidence of any effectiveness and the claims made sound rather like, oh what's that word...quackery.

She also mentioned all sorts of medical problems, and again either stated or implied (I can't remember) that these are common place in autistic people. She mentioned her own issues; salicylate intolerance, immune deficiency, gluten and dairy intolerance. She recommended that anyone thinking that their children may be affected by such issues, should investigate GF/CF diets, low sugar and low salicylate diets. She referred to the 'leaky gut' theory, stating that for many autistic people, gluten and casein can act like opiates. In fact, when one woman asked for advice on her son's habit of head banging, Donna again mentioned this, saying this is sometimes a symptom of what she termed 'brain fog', that is, undigested enzymes crossing the blood-brain barrier.

What was missing from all these discussions of medical issues, both in the main lecture and while answering questions from the audience later, was any mention of doctors or dietitians. Donna mentioned naturopaths, chiropractors, reflexologists and osteopaths. These are not practitioners of evidence based therapies.

In my opinion, medical issues may occur along with autism. Not all autistic people have the medical problems identified by Donna in her lecture, and many non-autistic people do. Whether your child is autistic or not, if you suspect that there's is a medical problem, I think you should go talk to your GP or paediatrician, who will take a history, order appropriate tests, and work with you to find a solution.

At one stage, Donna asked any parents whose children ate tooth paste to put their arms up high, so she could tell them off, since the children are ingesting fluoride, which , she said, is used in rat poison. I restrained myself from calling out the word 'DOSE!' (Actually, I agree that it's a good idea to teach your children to spit out toothpaste, and to use only a small amount when brushing teeth. Duncan used to suck the toothpaste, but spits now. It's just another one of those developmental things.)

Donna also promoted the use of glutamine supplements which is, she said, is a super brain-food. She discussed how it helps her tremendously, and she told how she has seen many autistic children make great progress while taking it, such as saying their first words, or starting to talk in sentences. She addressed a group of secondary school students in the audience directly, asking them if they ever took glutamine to help them concentrate in exams, and recommended that they do just that.

She then spoke about the huge benefits she saw personally on a small dose of respiradol, and again reported that she knew of many other cases where a neuroleptic (though she didn't use that term) helped someone with autism. She discussed how she had been taking expensive immune boosting drugs for years, the same kind, she said, taken by cancer and AIDS patients. However, introducing the respiradol, which she later changed to seroquel, meant she no longer needed the immune boosting medication. She said that though parents are reluctant to use medication with their children, that these can sometimes have great advantages and she encouraged parents to investigate this option. Again, I would have been more reassured if some of the disadvantages of neuroleptics had also been mentioned, and if she had emphasised that these decisions must be made after extensive research and discussion with a doctor.

There was much discussion of autistic 'cat' people versus NT 'dog' people. I wondered if she knew any autistic dog people?!

After the lecture, there was a slide-show of photos of herself as a child (pre-nine years old only!) and as an adult, as well as some of her art, and she sang live. It was very touching.

The questions at the end were all from parents, looking to interpret various 'behaviours' of their children and asking for her advice. I wanted to ask several questions too, but refrained, as my questions were not like any of the others. I was, to be honest, a bit nervous about standing up and querying some of the things mentioned here, and was worried it might be rude to do so. I wanted to ask in particular about the ethical issues of having autistic children take therapies that are not evidence based.

Later, I was looking into some of the therapies she advocated. A search on 'autism and glutamine' came up with the 'Sunderland Protocol' which also refers to many of the other biomedical interventions Donna mentioned. I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm not aware of the evidence in favour of this protocol, beyond the usual anecdotes.

Another hit was to the Holford Watch blog, and a post stating;

Patrick Holford frequently advises people to heal their gut with the use of glutamine. He particularly recommends the value of glutamine for gut-healing in children on the autistic spectrum.

Restoring a healthy gut by supplementing digestive enzymes and probiotics is known to produce positive results in autistic children. The amino acid glutamine is especially important in restoring the integrity of the digestive tract. Drinking 5g dissolved in water just before bedtime can help heal the gut.
[Emphasis added.]

Some version of that advice appears in a number of the Holford books and websites. Oddly enough, the advice on this topic on Food for the Brain (FFTB) has been modified to indicate that glutamine may be contra-indicated with children with ASD (autistic spectrum disorders), but Holford has yet to update any of his other writings to reflect those changes.

The amino acid glutamine is an important gut healing nutrient but may be contraindicated in autism because some autistics have protein deamination problems leading to production of ammonia which doesn’t mix well with glutamine.
[Emphasis added.]

...

It almost goes without saying that there is no support for the gut-healing, glutamine, autism assumption in the indexed medical journals.

I can say this for sure, I don't need to take advice from Patrick Holford. It appears that to some extent, his recommendations for 'gut healing' in autism parallel Donna's.

Obviously Donna Williams knows exponentially more than I ever will about autism and I do not intend to dispute what she says about her own health and medication. I take issue with some of the advice meted out and personally disagree with that aspect Donna's work. However, the lecture was very good at getting across many positive messages about autism acceptance and working with a person's strengths and favoured learning styles. There was great advice about making simple but effective adaptations. There were moving images and beautiful singing. It was lovely too to be on the company of someone whose work I have read and who is such a respected writer.

The farm, some trips, and thinking in pubs.

A few days ago, my dad called and asked to borrow Duncan for the day, as a travelling companion. I consented (obviously!) and they headed off for the day, to visit my aunt and others back home. Since I had only 2 children to look after, we decided to go out. A trip to the farm was the consensus decision. We had a nice time, and were all especially enamoured of a tiny Jack Russel puppy who was the last of the litter born to the farm dog to be re-homed. Lady loves all the animals; it's not a trait she's inherited from either her parents. Thomas preferred the playground so we played there for a while. We walked about and they loaded my pockets with black berries.

Duncan returned, having had a grand day out with his Granada. He's had an ice-cream cone, and a new toy car (the Fat Controller's car, no less...which he adapted asap to look more like Brum).

My sister returned for a few days holiday and we went over to the home town together for a few days, leaving Gordon and the children behind. We got together with my favourite aunt and uncle and my brother and his girlfriend for a great night out in a local restaurant. The following day, lil' sis' C and I dootered round the town, and in the evening we met up with a few cousins in a pub. That was some night! We all ended up dancing and singing. I felt like I was in the middle of that scene in Educating Rita where Rita is siting in the pub feeling disconnected from her husband and family while they're all singing some inane song, except I wasn't feeling Rita-ish. Although, by analysing it, maybe I am sorta Rita-ish. Anyway, it was fun.

Yesterday I went to listen to a lecture in Belfast by Donna Williams. It was very interesting and I think I'll go into it more later.

Today, Lady and Thomas have their gymnastics classes and I've just found out about an art class I can take Duncan and Thomas to, so we'll be doing that as well. I hope it's good.

Darling Boy

For the past few evenings, Duncan has taken to wearing a nightie belonging to Lady. It's pale lilac, long-sleeved and reaches to his calves. He teams it with a top-hat (from Lady's magic kit), Thomas's glasses (thankfully, the prescription is very mild), some black shoes and an umbrella. He is, of course, John Darling from Peter Pan.

He also enjoys playing Dogz, a PC virtual pet game. He adopts the 'mutt' then dresses it up in a top hat, and does something to make the dog run around on the screen on top of a picture he's found of the children from Peter Pan. Then I realise, the dog is Nana! I love these insights into his amazing world.

Holiday Snaps

I wanted to stick on a few photos of our holiday, the first we've ever taken all together away from home. I think these capture some of the happy times we had.

This last photo shows Duncan, engrossed in watching a hairy caterpillar make it's way across the path, while the concert was taking place (with Lady and Thomas performing) in a large, loud room nearby. Duncan rightly opted to stay outside and passed the time happily riding a tricycle, playing with a little toddler he made friends with and watching the caterpillar.